The pair even went into the pits side-by-side as Vettel moved alongside Hamilton on the way to the pit lane.

Replays suggest the cars were released at approximately the same time but Hamilton got away from his pit box more slowly. In the press conference after the race he said he had wheel spin on the damp surface in the pits.

What happened next was also potentially controversial. With Hamilton now alongside Vettel the Red Bull driver edged right, squeezing the McLaren dangerously close to the air lines of other teams’ pit boxes. Hamilton took a hand off the wheel and gestured at Vettel, saying afterwards:

He was pushing me a little bit to the right. We touched wheels.Lewis Hamilton

If McLaren get a penalty for the pit lane incident it would likely take the form of a 25-second penalty which would drop him to fifth behind Robert Kubica. Or he may get a grid penalty for the next race at Catalunya.

Do you think McLaren should get a penalty? Should Vettel’s move be investigated as well? Have your say in the comments.

Defenetly no, but Vettel squeezing the McLaren was defenetly something dangerous! If its done on track – fair enough, but in pit lane, which is full of equipment and people, is something hazardous. I dont think he shoud be penalaised but defenetly given a warning, so others are more careful in the future.

Today’s “Special Guest Steward” was a McLaren driver for six years. I imagine Hamilton will get away with barging Webber off the road, and Button for backing everyone up unnecessarily (and potentially dangerously – Hamilton himself had to take avoiding action by running onto the grass). Though I would penalise both.

On the pit incident, I can see it being penalised purely because Hamilton wasn’t technically in the “fast lane” while driving down the pit lane. However Vettel might get a slap on the wrist because there was probably enough room for two cars down there, had he been more generous with the space!

Hamilton certainly didn’t do anything wrong, whereas Vettel arguably did behave dangerously.
If anything the Mclaren team should get a penalty, and Vettel maybe should drop places at the next race. Really I think that there should be no penalties though.

Agreed 100%.
Hamilton :
1. Nearly going wrong way on the track to enter the pits way late. Penalties for that have been handed out before.
2. Nearly hit Vettel doing a dicey moves coming into a slow part of entering pit lane. Luckily, Vettel yielded.
3. Not yielding to Vettel in the main lane of the pits and running up against the side of him. Should’ve yielded and pulled in behind.
Button: Dumb move slowing the whole field down at the hairpin. Many driver had to take evasive actions. Very well could’ve led to drivers damaging parts on their cars or puncturing tires. See Fuji 2007 Hamilton-Webber-Vettel safety car incident.

Because HAMILTON decided when he was to be released, because HAMILTON pushed the lolly-pop up, because HAMILTON put water on the track so that he skidded pulling out, because HAMILTON thought it would “be more fun” to drive closer to the pit crews.

Neither driver wanted to yield, Hamilton should have, but by the same token Vettel didn’t need to squeeze him towards the mechanics

I thought that although the RBR was released first, it was almost at exactly the same time and was too close to call. The lollypop man can’t watch two cars at once. I think that Hamilton should get a penalty for this (or perhaps the team), but Vettel should be warned too as his driving also contributed to an already-dangerous situation.

How didn’t he benefit from it? If Hamilton had not endangered the mechanics in the pitlane and yielded to Vettel by slotting in behind him in the fast lane (as he should have done), Hamitlon would have been further behind Vettel than he was once they’d exited the pitlane. Hence, Hamilton benefitted from his dangerous driving.

What pushing James? Hamilton forced himself alongside Vettel in the pitlane, Vettel did nothing wrong. As I have said elsewhere on this site, to suggest otherwise is a desperate attempt to excuse Hamilton’s inexcusable actions.

@Rohan – Vettel starts in the centre of the pit lane (with approximately 1 car width between him and the wide blue strip which runs along the front of the garages), and by the time he’s past the Williams garage his wheels are encroaching on this blue area. This would indicate that he moved over towards the garages.

I don’t think the release was illegal. What Hamilton did afterwards was.

Even if Vettel hadn’t moved at all, Hamilton would still have been dangerously close to the mechanics and the equipment. He shouldn’t have been alongside Vettel, he had plenty of time to slot in behind him.

Unless you expected Vettel to move to the side and allow Ham to overtake him!

First, you’re talking complete BS- you seem to have invented the incident in your head rather than actually watching it- and second you accuse Keith of being biased on probably the most unbiased site on the web. Go away if you think that.

The Safety Car is supposed to stay out until all the cars are lined up behind it, which takes quite a long time now that they have this silly “lap delta” rule. I think they should go back to closing the pits when the safety car is deployed, now that refuelling is banned it shouldn’t be an issue with drivers getting caught out by an unexpected SC period.

If FIA decides to give penalty than give it to both the drivers as i think Vettel also pushed Hamilton too far on the right when there was clearly lot of space. He did it on purpose.
But i hope the results stay the same and there is no penalty at all just warning.

It was during the race, so maybe ‘race incident’ would be a better way of putting it:
if you’re complaining about racing in the pits, then surely you don’t like the way that Vettel overtook Hamilton in the pit lane?

Hamilton must stop making obvious moves which do not favour him at all. Otherwise he drove well again. Pity Alonso’s jump start drive through, but still he stormed through to 4th. Overall the race was fantastic as the rain was just adequate to mess things up.

By the same token though, Baricello left the track to avoid an incident in the first corner with his direction being similar to that of Hamilton’s dive into the pitlane, should he get penalised?

And a lot of drivers, not just the ones overtaking in the pitlane entrance were jumping over the white lines in the pitlane entrance, +25 second penalties for Alonso, Massa, Vettel, Webber, Schumacher too?

I thought the whole point of the 25 second penalty was to replace a drive-through if there wasn’t time to investigate an incident during the race. There was clearly plenty of time to make a decision during the race, which may have allowed Hamilton to drive the rest of the race accordingly. So if any penalty is given, it should be a fine or grid-drop at the next race.

To be honest though, if a penalty of any kind were to be given it should be for Hamilton overtaking on the entry or Vettel squeezing Hamilton on the exit. The releases were nearly simultaneous, and Hamilton would almost certainly have been ahead of Vettel if he hadn’t had so much wheel-spin- the release itself was justified.

If Hamilton is being investigated, I would have thought that Alonso should be as well- although I was just relieved to see him finally escape from Massa after the last few races. I’m not even an Alonso fan and its been annoying me seeing him held up by his team mate.

Fair point, but regardless of if the team says that the two drivers are free to race, it seems silly when particularly in Australia Alonso may have had the pace to get past Kubica and claim an extra position for himself and the team.

It was great driving by Hamilton. Anyway, he did dangerous drive in pit. Rules are rules. He can do more on track… not in pits. Vettel was dangerous as Hamilton getting in “game” there. Both should be penalised. And this should be done during race. Stuards were too slow for F1 today. They should be judging in snooker from next time maybe. From different hand now, it was not necessary to get second SC on track. It was at least curiosity. Few tiny parts on track… stuarts did not like advantage of Jenson, Nico, Kubica and Petrov… not good for show. Overall… I would give a penalty -drive “over” all stuarts team today. Race was great anyway:9!

Most of you are obviously biased fans…….Okay, so you argue that he was released late and was slow out of there, but why not just accept the fact the other guy was in front and not take such a risk of running equipment or unaware pit crew for a position? Id be startled if ANYONE did it, let alone the young and ambitious LH…. I mean, how many warnings will it take? Maybe till he harms himself or someone else…